Turning ‘those numbers’ back into people

Alwyn Collinson, an Oxford history graduate, is livetweeting the 2nd World War, as it happens, on this date and time over six years. With nearly a quarter of a million followers, it’s a phenomenon.

“In this incredibly powerful and compelling talk, he discusses the significance of his project in helping people connect and empathise with history through the people that lived (and died) during World War II: the importance of breaking the ‘comfortable distance’ between the modern world and historic events so as to understand and to learn from them . He discusses how the most horrific events in history turned people into mere numbers and how it is our duty to turn these numbers back into people.” Personable, interesting, passionate and with a gift for bringing numbers to life, it’s a fascinating talk by an inspired young man.

More from the Lost Lectures website: “Alwyn Collinson is an Oxford history graduate who began a 6 year project to tweet every day of the second World War with events as they happened 72 years ago. The project @RealTimeWWII, now 9 months in and It covers major military and political developments, eyewitness testimony from the battlefield, contemporary photography and newsreel footage all from the perspective of real people who lived it”.